Meditating in Bhutan: The Kingdom of Happiness
Truly the last Shangri La – a perfect place to sit quietly and contemplate happiness.
Everything is about happiness. What it all means, what it all feels like, and, of course, how to acquire it.
The New York Times publishes a piece about happiness every few months – the format might change, but the basic premise is the same: you should be pursuing it. Endless amounts of workshops are scheduled across the globe, Amazon.com has specific divisions dedicated to books on obtaining happiness, and there are apps specifically engineered to help you find it, usually through more meditation or even more excessive exercising.
Bhutan has bigger plans. In 1972 the country’s fourth Dragon King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, coined the phrase “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). The idea was to build a country based on Buddhist spiritual values opposed to western materialism, usually defined by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And decades later the citizens, from my limited visitor’s perspective, seem happy as can be.
But long before Bhutan decided to give importance to something other than money and greed, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” – and who are we to argue with that. The tricky part is, isn’t happiness totally subjective?
In 2010, Bhutan’s Center for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research identified nine specific components that give some guidelines on this elusive happiness: Psychological Wellbeing, Mental and Spiritual Health, Time-balance (Work and Sleep), Social and Community Vitality (Philanthropy, family related indicators), Cultural Vitality, Education (Literacy indicators), Standard of life, Good governance (Human rights, Political participation, Government Performance indicators), and Ecological Vitality. A mouthful of factors, but once pondered, their importance is rather palatable.
Bhutan reveals these factors in the smallest, and biggest ways. Before arriving at the country’s only airport in Paro, Mount Everest comes into immaculate view. Within moments the plane descends onto one of the most challenging landing strips in the world – peaks rising up to 16,500 ft. surround it and then that notorious turn to touch the plane down. “You know only a handful of pilots are skilled enough to do this landing, right?” said Karma Dorji, the flight attendant on Drukair (in Bhutan there is no last name, everyone has two names). “It’s a great honor for us, to know that the pilot is the best in the world.” (When last did you hear that on a flight?)